Mark – God is on our side!
When we are too sick to go about our regular routine of life, we are saddened and depressed by what we are missing. Those emotional feelings just make us more ill if we let it. The normal we took for granted is now what we long to return to so that we can go about life the way we know and is comfortable. Simon (Peter) has a mother in law who prepares meals for the family and for guests. That is her normal. But she cannot do what she does best because she has a fever that has sent her to bed. She is miserable and very sick. It must have made her feel worse to know the Master Teacher was in town and would be coming to Peter’s home but she was not feeling well enough to prepare for this special guest in their home along with the other family members.
How would you feel?
Mark 1, NLT
Jesus Heals Many People
29 After Jesus left the synagogue with James and John, they went to Simon and Andrew’s home. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. They told Jesus about her right away. 31 So he went to her bedside, took her by the hand, and helped her sit up. Then the fever left her, and she prepared a meal for them.32 That evening after sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. 33 The whole town gathered at the door to watch. 34 So Jesus healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many demons. But because the demons knew who he was, he did not allow them to speak.
GOING DEEPER…
The honored guest becomes the servant…to all who need the touch of the Savior!
Two miracles of healing are described in this section, both of which reveal the compassion of the Savior for those in need. In fact, so great was His love for the needy that the Savior ministered to great crowds of people after the Sabbath had ended, when it was lawful for them to come for help. It would appear that God’s Servant was at the beck and call of all kinds of people, including demoniacs and lepers, and He lovingly ministered to them all.
Jesus and the four disciples left the synagogue and went to Peter and Andrew’s house for their Sabbath meal. Perhaps Peter was a bit apologetic because his wife had to care for her sick mother and was unable to entertain them in the usual manner. We do not know about the other disciples, but we do know that Peter was a married man (Mark 1:30).
Peter and Andrew not only brought their friends James and John home with them from the service, but they also brought the Lord home. That is a good example for us to follow: don’t leave Jesus at the church—take Him home with you and let Him share your blessings and your burdens. What a privilege it was for Peter and his family to have the very Son of God as guest in their humble home. Before long, the Guest became the Host, just as one day the Passenger in Peter’s boat would become the Captain (Luke 5:1–11). By faith, the men told Jesus about the sick woman, no doubt expecting Him to heal her. That is exactly what He did! The fever left her immediately, and she was able to go to the kitchen and serve the Sabbath meal. If you have ever had a bad fever, then you know how painful and uncomfortable it is. You also know that after the fever leaves you, it takes time for you to regain your strength. But not so in this case! She was able to serve the Lord immediately.
And isn’t service to our Lord one of the best ways to thank Him for all He has done for us?
What was the result of this miracle of instant healing?
When the Sabbath ended at sundown, the whole city showed up at Peter’s door! They brought their sick and afflicted, and the Lord (who was no doubt weary) healed them all. The Greek verb indicates that they “kept on bringing” people to Him, so that He must have gone to sleep at a very late hour.
Note in Mark 1:32 the clear distinction made between the diseased and the demonized. While Satan can cause physical affliction, not all sickness is caused by demonic power.
Word spreads quickly about His Touch. But do all come in faith in our Lord? But do they come only for what they can get from Him?
Where is our heart when we come to Jesus? Do we ask for what He wants for our lives or only for what He can give us? Dear Heavenly Father, Lord and Savior,
Thank you for all you have done in our lives, for all you are doing currently and for what you will do to make us all you intended for us to be. We know we will always be a work in progress until we see you face to face in all your glory someday. So continue your work, for we want what You want. Your best far exceeds what we think we need as we serve. We love you, Lord, with all that is in us. We love each other, our family, friends and all others you put in our lives to help us grow in your love.
Thank you for Your Touch in our lives. You have healed brokenness, physical and emotional illness, and feeling of insignificance. You restored our hope, faith and trust because of your love. Your Holy Spirit’s Presence and residence in us keeps us focused on You and Your best. Thank you!
In Jesus Name, Amen
21 Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum. When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach. 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike the teachers of religious law.
We wonder how many synagogue services that man had attended without revealing that he was demonized. It took the presence of the Son of God to expose the demon, and Jesus not only exposed him, but He also commanded him to keep quiet about His identity and to depart from the man. The Savior did not want, nor did He need, the assistance of Satan and his army to tell people who He is (see Acts 16:16–24). 
“Hold thy peace!” literally means “Be muzzled!” Jesus would use the same words when stilling the storm (Mark 4:39). The demon tried one last convulsive attack, but then had to submit to the authority of God’s Servant and come out of the man. The people in the synagogue were amazed and afraid. They realized that something new had appeared on the scene—a new doctrine and a new power. Our Lord’s words and works must always go together (John 3:2). The people kept on talking about both, and the fame of Jesus began to spread. 
Dear Heavenly Father,
The First Disciples
Because Jesus preached with authority, He was able to call men from their regular occupations and make them His disciples. Who else could interrupt four fishermen at their work and challenge them to leave their nets and follow Him? Several months before, Jesus had already met Peter, Andrew, James, and John, and they had come to trust Him (see John 1:35–49). This was not their initial call to faith and salvation; it was an initial call to discipleship.The fact that Zebedee had hired servants suggests that his fishing business was successful and that he was a man of means. 
Yes, Jesus, who knows all hearts, chose well. Aren’t we glad, thankful and deeply grateful?
Then you open the car door, while still on the stage, and sit in the driver’s seat. You are handed the car keys and told to drive your car off the stage! The very minute you put your hand on the door, God speaks to your heart, “I did this for you so you can pay off all your medical bills.” Later, the car was sold to a friend in another state who was watching the show on cable and saw that I had won. He bought the car. Paid in cash. Randy and I not only paid off our medical bills, we were able to give to our church and another mission to build a home in Haiti. 
Mark 1, NLT
SEE what I mean? In the first sentence, “THIS is the Good News about Jesus Christ…” then Mark continues to tell what the Son of God, sent from God did and is going to do for us.
As we come to infamous send off by Jesus to His disciples, we must evaluate ourselves as groups of people who call ourselves “church”. Are we Great Commission people? Individually and corporately? Are we telling broken and bruised people that Jesus can heal and save them from the emotional and spiritual bondage they are suffering? Are we helping them find Jesus and then follow in His ways by teaching and leading them to His Word? Are we literally baptizing the lost but now found repentant souls in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as a profession of their eternal faith? Or has the baptistery gone dry? 
We need to tell them the Truth of the Person of Jesus Christ. We are all sinners, saved only by HIS grace and mercy because of His love for us. All the rest that goes on as a church Body is a result of His love. We are friendlier because of knowing His love of us and humbled by His ongoing work in us. Our pastor, being led by God, speaks profoundly with helpful ways to live like Jesus which by the help of the Holy Spirit, transforms us. Our corporate worship comes alive because of knowing Jesus, being grateful for all He has done and is doing while letting Him take over when we are together worshiping Him! Our teachers, youth workers and all volunteers are filled with His Holy Spirit that draws others into what Jesus can do through those they teach and lead! THAT is how it seems to work best. This is the great commission to all of us who say we believe and want what God wants.
The Great Commission
Dear Heavenly Father, Lord and Savior,
Can you imagine going to the tomb the next morning after a night of mourning the loss of your best Friend and Master Teacher? Then imagine seeing an angel, happily sitting on THE STONE rolled away from the grave to reveal the Good News to you. “Looking for Jesus, yeah, he’s not here anymore”. “HE IS ALIVE…JUST AS HE SAID”. Just as HE said. Jesus is Truth. 
2 Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it. 3 His face shone like lightning, and his clothing was as white as snow. 4 The guards shook with fear when they saw him, and they fell into a dead faint.
8 The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. 9 And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee, and they will see me there.”
It assures our future inheritance:
When we do, we are no better than the mockers and haters who shoved, whipped and spit on Jesus. The religious elite who thought they killed Jesus forever were in for a surprise. It is just as ludicrous and laughable…to think we control Christ. He is Savior. We do not save ourselves. He is Lord and we are not. We do not want what we want when we become believers who follow Jesus. We want what HE wants for us. We follow Him. He does not follow us. But, He will come and get us when we are lost and trying to find our way back home.
Dear Lord and Savior,
There is a song from my childhood that my mom, dad, uncle and aunt used to sing as a “special” in church. They were called the “Kellerby Quartet”. They were gifted at choosing songs that spoke to the hearts of many as well as their own. They had beautiful voices with all four parts who believed in what they sang. 
32 Along the way, they came across a man named Simon, who was from Cyrene, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross. 33 And they went out to a place called Golgotha (which means “Place of the Skull”). 34 The soldiers gave Jesus wine mixed with bitter gall, but when he had tasted it, he refused to drink it.
39 The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. 40 “Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!”
This form of punishment was invented by the Romans to keep their kingdom of oppressed people in line, under their power. The agony of this form of torture didn’t have a name to describe the pain until the 1600’s when a Latin form was invented, “crucifixion”, which means “torture on a cross”. Jesus went through the worst for our best. Jesus could have stopped it all and called the angels to intercede but he chose to lay down His life, be nailed through his hands and feet, be mocked and ridiculed by all who gathered who were glad to be rid of Him. Or so they thought.
He turned to the Bible to research his song. “One day I thought to myself: I’ve written secular songs, I’d like to write a song about Christ. I opened the Bible and began to read the portion of Scripture that describes Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, telling Peter to put away his sword,” Overholt said. “I read where Jesus told Peter that he could ask his Father and he would send twelve legions of angels. I didn’t know at the time that that would have been more than 72,000 angels.” {Matthew 26:53}
Jesus could have called then thousand angels, but He didn’t. Aren’t you glad?
11 Now Jesus was standing before Pilate, the Roman governor. “Are you the king of the Jews?” the governor asked him.
The Soldiers Mock Jesus
Matthew did not record the trial held before Herod Antipas (Luke 23:6–12). Herod was the one who had murdered John the Baptist and had threatened to kill Jesus (Luke 13:31–32). Jesus was silent before Herod, for Herod had silenced the voice of God. All the king could do was mock Jesus and send Him back to Pilate. If Pilate had hoped to get rid of the problem, he was disappointed. However, this maneuver did patch up the quarrel between the two rulers. 
Then they did something that no subject would ever do to his king: They spat on Him and hit Him with the reed. While some of the soldiers were bowing before Him, others were hitting Him on the head or spitting on Him (Isa. 50:6). Jesus took all of this humiliation and pain without speaking or fighting back (1 Peter 2:18ff.). His submission was not a sign of weakness; it was a sign of strength.
In child’s games, like tag, there is a phrase that is shouted to indicate that you cannot give back or tag the person that tagged you. That helps the person tagging get farther away from you. Sound confusing? Not when you are a child who wants to win at all costs.
REFLECTION…
WE KNOW BETTER!
